Mountain Community Health Partnership (MCHP) has entered a new era of growth with construction underway on a 20,000-square-foot integrated health center in Spruce Pine, expected to open in late 2026. The project—years in the making—represents a significant expansion of primary care, behavioral health, and supportive services for Mitchell, Yancey, and surrounding counties. According to MCHP CEO Tim Evans, the need driving this development is both clear and urgent.

MCHP started 12 years ago as a small, independent family medical clinic serving about 3,000 patients. The group now has four medical clinics, a dental clinic and two school-based health centers that serve more than 11,000 patients. “Over that span of time,” said Evans, “we have added extensive behavioral health, substance use disorder, clinical pharmacy, community health worker, and physical therapy services. We are currently serving about a third of the population of our service area, with new patients seeking our services every day.”

The new Spruce Pine facility is designed to meet that accelerating demand, with the organization preparing to more than double its service capacity at this site. The new health center dramatically expands the footprint of MCHP’s current leased clinic in Spruce Pine. The new clinic will include a dedicated behavioral health wing along with MCHP’s first in-house pharmacy—both central to the organization’s goal of improving access for residents who often face steep barriers to care.

“This facility will more than double our capacity to serve primary care patients in Spruce Pine,” Evans said. “In addition, the expansion includes a Behavioral Health wing which will allow us to continue to expand the provision of a variety of outpatient behavioral health services, while preserving the integrated behavioral health services we provide in each of our primary care clinics. The expansion will also include our first ‘in house’ pharmacy, which will allow us to more fully serve our patients, especially those patients who qualify for our sliding fee scale services.”

Pressure on rural healthcare providers has worsened in recent years, and Evans noted that MCHP is not immune to the same structural challenges facing providers across Western North Carolina.

“We have witnessed (and are witnessing) an ever-shrinking pool of primary care, behavioral health and dental providers who are willing to accept patients who are uninsured, underinsured and low income,” Evans said. “Fewer and fewer providers are willing to accept patients with Medicaid. We will continue to work to provide the services that those folks need.”

The expanded facility is meant to directly counter those shortages by increasing both availability and accessibility. Once the new center is fully operational, Evans expects an increase of about 2,500 patients. To support this growth, he said MCHP will be hiring across multiple departments, including primary care providers, nursing staff, clerical and front desk staff, pharmacists and pharmacy support staff.

The project is the result of collaboration among local leaders, state legislators, private funders, and community members. 

“This project would not have come together so seamlessly without the community-mindedness and support of many folks,” he said. “The MCHP is grateful to the Phillips family for their interest in seeing the sale of their property be a catalyst for impactful community development in Spruce Pine. Likewise, Senator [Ralph] Hise and Representative [Dudley] Greene were instrumental in securing the funding necessary to construct the facility. Without their support this project would not have happened as quickly. Numerous other private foundations have subsequently provided funding for this project as well. We are grateful for the continued dedication of our funders and stakeholders.”

Community feedback has played a meaningful role in shaping the expansion. Evans noted that while enthusiasm has been strong, residents have expressed some concerns.

“There have been concerns that we are ‘consolidating’ and will be closing other clinics,” Evans said. “We have done our best to assure folks that we are increasing overall capacity and have no plans to close any of our current locations.”

Rather than consolidating, MCHP is taking a growth-oriented approach guided by real needs expressed across Mitchell and Yancey counties. “Community need influenced the project,” Evans said. “There are not enough primary care and behavioral health providers to serve the needs of our communities. We know that there is more that we can do to serve the pharmacy needs of our communities—especially folks who need financial assistance to afford the medications they need.”

Looking ahead, Evans outlined the metrics that will show whether the new Spruce Pine health center is delivering the impact MCHP envisions: “Full patient schedules, full patient treatment rooms, an expanding and engaged staff, greater overall numbers of patients served in larger numbers of service lines. And then, of course, continuing to operate the organization as a whole in the black.”

For Evans, the expansion is both a response to the past decade of rapid growth and a commitment to MCHP’s future in the region.

“Our role in the regional healthcare landscape continues to grow,” he said. “It is our plan to continue to look for ways to increase the services we provide to all of our communities. We will continue to strive to be the healthcare provider of choice in our communities.”